The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-04-09
LIFE IN GIBRALTAR.
Restrictions Under Which the Civil Popu.
lation of the Fortress is Placed.

restrictions Under Which the Civil Popu.
iation of the Fortress is Placed.
Gibraltar, besides its garrison OF
1000, has $1,000 inhabitants. For a
fortress of such small extent this popu-
lation is embarrassing. The civilians
are everywhere sacrificed to the military.
In the village and on the rock the best
locations are occupied by barracks.
Every thing that serves the needs of de-
Tense, the health and comfort of the
troops, is admirably looked after. From
top to bottom the rock is furrowed with
excellent roads, and in the city the
streets are marvelously clean and well
kept. The sewage system is perfect,
and gas and water abound everywhere.
But the civil population is shut up in a
very restricted space, most of the houses
are novels, whose existence is subject
to the caprice of the military, for, above
all, nothing must interfere with the fir
ing of the batteries. Not a new build
ing has been constructed for twenty
years, for all the available land was
built on long ago. These fifteen
thousand inhabitants, born on the
rock and called by the English
''rock scorpions" are, according
to law, subjects of the British
Government, as born on English soil.
They have the right to live where they
-eS born. No one can expel them,
tut every thing is done to fetter the de-
velopment of the civil population, and
above all, to proven the formation of a
foreign colony. A foreigner can enter
Gibraltar only with permit valid for
twenty-four hours. At the holders re-
quest it may be extended three days,
and he cannot remain longer than that
time without reliable guarantor known
to the military authorities. With such
a guarantor his permit may be renewed
every three months, the guarantor being
liable to fine of 500 francs and three
months Imprisonment if the person for
whom he has vouched violates any of
the rules imposed on foreigners. How
ever, foreigners are numerous, fol
nearly all the servants employed al
Gibraltar are from Spain.
A male inhabitant of the rock may
marry foreign woman, who thus ac.
quires the right to live there, but q
British woman who marries foreigner
is expelled with her husband the day OF
her marriage. When this law was first
put in force there were a number OF
foreigners at Gibraltar who had been
allowed to live there without permit fol-
years. All of them had to submit tc
the rule requiring permit every three
months.
The interior spectacle of the city Of
Gibraltar is lacking in neither gayety
nor animation. In the evening the
whole population is in the streets. The
Moors with their white Arabian cloaks,
their red vests, their pulled pantaloons,
their bare feet in Turkish slippers, jostle
the redcoats; the turbans mingle witt
the white cork hats of the English. Ii
the midst of this crowd circulate En-
glish cavaliers, Amazons, Andalusiar
mIdsseers with large sombreros, anC
pretty blond misses with saucy straw
hats. The scene is varied, picturesqu,
and full of color. But when one lives
at Gibraltar the truest pleasure is il
getting out of it. In the midst of the
ramparts that surround you, batteries,
easements, powder factories, sentinels
with the continued discharge of the
cannon signaling the opening and clos
ing of the only gateway by which one
communicates with the rest of the world
the impression of imprisonment be
comes so strong, the need of air space
and liberty so violent, that one passe,
this single exit merely for the sake OF
passing it and assuring himself that he
is still free. A single road then pre-
sents itself-a road marvelously KEEP
up by the English and constantly filled
with carriages and pedestrians, which
under blazing sky, goes along thu
bay of Gibraltar at the left and the neu
trail territory at the right, and lead:
you in less than a quarter of an houl
to the first custom house port, the frs
Spanish village, Linea. There the
spectacle changes. In place OF tn,
English sentinels, so fresh, so rutldy
and so well fed, here are the custom
house officers with their hollow Jaw
and starving air and somber and seedy
uniforms. For them every conner p ;
smuggler; but don't he afraid, they viii
not treat you badly. From time imme
mortal the smuggler has been the friend
of the Spanish tax-gatherer. 1t is he
that enables him to live better than tn,
Government, which doesn't always Civ,
him his pay.-Intcrior.
Women as Carpet-Buyers.